A Very Merry Christmas

Elder Rushforth included a brief note in his email this last week before Christmas that I thought would be good to share with you all...

"What an amazing time of year it is. I am grateful to be out serving the Lord at this time. What a privilege to be out testifying of our Savior Jesus Christ each and every day; each and every minute and see people's lives change! We have had a great week and have been blessed with many people to see and teach! We are excited about the upcoming week and for the next year!!

Love,
Elder Rushforth"

We also got to talk with Elder Rushforth on Christmas day! He's doing great! He's approaching(this week)his final transfer(but he's not talking about coming home) and believes he'll be staying put in Longview. He's really enjoyed his time in this area and loves the people there.

While he's not mentioning coming home, the preparations for his arrival in 6 weeks, on February 8th are beginning at home. While he was gone, he had 2 cute nieces born. I think he'll be excited to meet them. And we're all excited for him to meet them!

At this point, we're pretty sure he'll be speaking on February 13th at 10:50 am. But we'll keep you posted on that as it draws nearer.

He's still moving forward and not getting "trunky", but that shouldn't surprise us, he's such a hard worker and always gives 110% til the end! I suppose that's the kind of Enduring to the End we should all be actively engaged in. What an amazing example Elder Rushforth is to us! We love him so much and while he'll be sad to leave those he has served for 2 years, we'll be excited to welcome him back home!

Hope your Christmas was Merry and that you all have a Happy New Year!

An Update from Longview

I recently sent Elder Rushforth an email requesting some good stories for the Blog. This is what I received in response...

"SO my FANS are wanting an update aye! I feel so special and popular!! Okay, so maybe I need to work on humility a little more:) Sorry I haven't had any crazy stories but I have had some amazing experiences as we strive to find those whom are prepared. I love my mission so much and I have learned a great deal and need to learn a lot more!!! I have great missionaries that are serving around me that I am able to learn from three of them are from Bountiful and Centerville, Elder Bench(my companion), Elder Buchanan and Elder Collier!! Crazy small world! I went to elementary and High school with Elder Collier and Elder Buchanan had seminary at bountiful high and had the same teacher just different periods. The work is awesome!! To be able to teach of Jesus Christ and the peace that can come into the lives that are willing to act upon the feelings of the Holy Ghost is great. We have been teaching a couple named Jeff and Kristy for a couple of weeks now and to see the change already in their life and how it is blessing them is awesome. We found them through prayer as we walked down a road we were striving to find some children of God to teach. As we walked I said a prayer silently and then we saw Jeff who was sitting outside and we stopped to talk to him. A few minutes later Kristy came out and told us that she had seen us earlier that week and wanted to ask us if we had an reading material and if we could come stop by and teach them. One other good finding experience that we had is at church when a 10 year-old came up to us and told us she wanted to be baptized. We visited with the family that has been bringing her and they talked to the dad to see what he thought and he gave her permission to be baptized and we will hopefully meet with him as well. We are excited about the great work!!!

Alright so one crazy story!!! We got the police called on us!!! We had an appointment with Jeff and Kristy and we had a member who met us there and we taught the lesson and got out at 8:30 so it was dark and we were visiting with the member after the meeting (about ten min.) and a cop pulled up and climb out of his car and was about to ask us a question when he looked at my companion and I seeing our name tags and paused and shook his head. We told him we had just got out of an appointment. At about that time a voice came from the house right behind us and stood up for us telling the cop that we were the best people that ever walk up and down the street. (probably because it is in a pretty ghetto area). She then said that she couldn't get the cops here that fast if there was a drug deal going down. We all laughed because at that point the cop had left. We finished talking about gospel stuff and the lesson and we went our way. So that is absolutely true and I laugh about it.
The mission is great and our Savior lives and loves us all. As we read the scriptures, the bible and the Book of Mormon, we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and come closer to him. We can know if the Book of Mormon is true as we read and pray about the things we learn and act up the feelings we receive. I hope all is going well with you all. Have a great week. "

Love,

Elder Rushforth


He's such an amazing missionary and always has a positive attitude, even when things are rough. It's uplifting to hear from him regularly about his experiences and how his testimony is growing. I can hardly believe that he'll be home in February! But I'm grateful that he has had this opportunity to learn and grow and serve the Lord by bringing lost sheep to the fold. What an amazing example he is!

A Special Missionary Experience

This is the email that we received from Elder Rushforth this week. It talks about a very special experience that he had and I knew he wanted me to share it because he sent it to me twice...the second time he had gone through and fixed some of the spelling. :) Get your tissues out because I don't know how you can NOT cry at this tender missionary experience.

"We have been having a wonderful time and I probably had one of the best experiences of my mission this past week, although I have had lots of cool things happen on my mission. When my companion Elder Schneider and I were out on exchanges with the High Priest group leader we were teaching a lesson to some investigators outside and a young lady walks out of her apartment and goes and sits on the hood of her car and begins smoking. As we taught I looked back at her and noticed her look over a few times and after we had a prayer with the two we were teaching we were walking back to our car and I asked how she was, although I could already tell she was gloomy and sad. At that point it is all I said we got in the car and left and I felt a longing to go back but it was too late and we went home for the night and decided we would stop by the next day, Sunday, after church. We went and knocked on her door and when she opened up I think she was shocked to see us their but we talked to her briefly then asked if she ever considered what the purpose of life is? she told us she had no remote idea what her purpose could be. We began teaching on the door step and talked about how she is a child of God and He knows and loves her. When we got to the first vision and gave her a picture of it as we talked of Josephs experience she started to cry and didn't stop from then to the end. It was probably the most spiritual lesson I have taught. We gave her a book of Mormon and taught her about prayer and how we pray then asked her to pray to God for the strength and peace she desired. The hymn "Prayer is the souls sincere desire" is the only way to explain her prayer. She wants to know her purpose and feel God love for her and know that she is a daughter of God. I truly believe that she will be baptized if she keeps reading and praying to know the truth. We will find out more tomorrow when the other elders go and teach her since she is twenty and so she is YSA age, but I don't care. I am grateful for the opportunity that we had to teach and meet her and to feel of her spirit. My favorite part was the smile that we got from her as we left!! a complete 180 degrees. I know that it was God that placed her in our paths and I know that my desire to share the gospel and the ability of knowing the promptings of the spirit has increased ten times on my mission. I want people to be happy and I know that the gospel can do that because we know WHO WE ARE!! CHILDREN OF A LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER!!!!! and may we never forget that because HE will NEVER forget us.

How great is my calling

Love,

Elder Rushforth

p.s. Who would have ever thought I could go up to complete strangers and want to talk to them and get to know them!! It is probably because I loved talking to people and was very social before my mission!! NOT!!! blessings of serving:). "

Same Area, New Companion

These last transfers, Elder Rushforth found out he was staying in Pendleton, Oregon and he was getting a new companion. In fact, he was getting a Greenie. I can't think of anyone better to show Elder Schneider the ropes.

Elder Rushforth recently sent home some pictures(gotta love email). I think it's safe to say he's really enjoying his time with the members in Pendleton.

Elder Rushforth taking a breather after helping to remove a truck bed.

Elder Baumgarte(the former companion), President Wood(former Stake President), Tyler Goodman(not sure about the backstory there) and Elder Rushforth.

The "Greenie", Elder Schneider, unpacking

A Baptism and a Calf

Elder Rushforth sent pictures with his last email. Recently, he had the opportunity to participate in a baptism. He's had other investigators be baptized, but this is the first time he's been an active participant. He and his companion baptized two brothers, Dante and Keyshawn Jackson.

He also got to feed a calf. He didn't give me a lot of details on the back story of the calf-feeding. But he sent a picture.

As always, he's got a great attitude and is working hard! He's still in Pendleton and should be there for another five or six weeks at least. And he's very grateful for that as he loves Pendleton and the people he's met.

Every Missionary Has One of These Stories...

Here is an excerpt from Elder Rushforth's recent email...(complete with original spelling and grammar in true missionary fashion!)

"Well, I hope that everything is going good for you all! We have had a great week! This Saturday is the baptism of the eleven year-old and her brother who is eight! It has been awesome teaching the kids since we have to teach with simplicity. We also got a new investigator in the Pendleton first ward a young single mother with three kids who is looking for a church that not only she will enjoy and believes but that her kids will like and that will bless her family! What more could this church offer than everything she wants:) We are really excited to teach her and watch the change that will bless her and her kids lives! I love working with families!! Okay now for a good story! yesterday we went tracing and in Pendleton thier are no side walks on the out skirt of towns so we parked infront of a house on dirt like everyone does and went tracting. After coming back we had a letter telling us not to park there and dog dudu and leaves on our car so we get in and the lady that we tracted into first comes out and starts throwing yogurt at us! Luckily we were in our car and so nothing got on us. What a crazy experience I now understand a little well a very little about what Aaron and his brothers must have felt like as they were thrown out of cities and into prisons:) "

It's a good thing Elder Rushforth has a good attitude about pretty much everything!

Happy Birthday!

Today Elder Rushforth turns 20!!! He's no longer a teenager(although he did tell me he had another year before he came home and he was going to take his time "growing up").

Of course the other implication of the event is that it's been almost a year since he's been out on his mission. Nearly half way(a couple more weeks to go).

He's still as optimistic as ever and a super hard worker! I'm sure he's touching many lives!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER RUSHFORTH!
We're all thinking of you!